![]() Symptoms of pneumonic plague typically appear within one or two days after exposure to the bacteria. For patients who do not receive immediate treatment, the death rate is nearly 100 percent. Unless antibiotic treatment is started within 24 hours, the patient can quickly go into shock and die. Symptoms of pneumonic plague include high fever, chest pain, cough, shortness of breath and coughing up bloody fluid or mucus. It occurs when the bacteria enter the lungs, which quickly causes a severe form of pneumonia. However, this is believed to be the form of plague most likely to result from a terrorist attack. It accounts for fewer than 14 percent of cases. Pneumonic plague is the most severe form of the illness – but the least common in nature.It accounts for fewer than 20 percent of “natural” plague cases. Septicemic plague – a blood infection caused by plague bacteria – is less common.The symptoms, which come on quickly, include fever, chills, weakness, and painful, swollen lymph nodes, or “buboes.” Bubonic plague is the most common form of the disease in nature, accounting for 75-97 percent of cases.However, up to 2,000 cases are reported each year worldwide, including about 15 cases in the southwestern U.S. Thanks to improved sanitation and living conditions, outbreaks of plague are now rare. During the fourteenth century, this illness spread across the world in three large waves, killing one-third to one-half of the population in places where outbreaks occurred. In nature, the disease is spread from rodents to humans by the bite of a flea. Plague is a disease caused by a kind of bacteria. Download PDF version formatted for print: Plague - English (PDF).What should I do if I think I may have been exposed to plague? Why is it considered a possible terror weapon?
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